JOHANNESBURG – MTN has invested more than R30 billion (US$2,4 billion) over the past three years on network improvement in South Africa, a senior official disclosed as the operator was adjudged the best mobile network in the country.

Godfrey Motsa, Chief Executive Officer of MTN South Africa, disclosed the investment on Wednesday after the operator’s recognition the latest Mobile Network Quality Report by a local technology publication.

“We are so proud of this achievement, and it further emboldens our resolve to keep improving every interaction our customers have with us,” Motsa said.

Meanwhile, for the best network accolade, MyBroadband’s study was conducted over three months across South Africa.

The study was based on 113 117 speed tests that were performed by 8 250 MyBroadband Android Speed Test App users between October 1 and December 31 in 2017.

Giovanni Chiarelli, MTN SA’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, said with more spectrum, MTN could continue to grow the number of South Africans that could have fast internet access at their fingertips.

This, he said, would further drive down the cost of data.

“Data costs will drop when we are able to reduce the amount of money we spend on densifying our networks in the face of this spectrum crunch,” Chiarelli said.

Last week, MTN became the first company on the African continent to trial 5G.

Demonstrations showed that speeds of 23 gigabits per second (Gbp/s) and latencies of 5 milliseconds (ms) would be possible in the future but Chiarelli called on government to ensure fair and equitable allocation of spectrum.

“But before we get to that future (5G), we need more South Africans to experience the best in 3G and 4G,” Chiarelli said.